Chapter 2 Birthday Breakfast

Wendy opened her eyes and put a smile on her face immediately. The morning of her eighteenth birthday was officially here. It… it didn't even feel real. Wendy had the strangest feeling overcome her as she pondered this fact. Some sort of a paradoxical reality that she often experienced on her birthday made itself known, pretty much right on schedule. On the one hand, she thought to herself, "Wow, I can't believe I'm eighteen already!" But on the other hand, she thought to herself, "Wow, I can't believe I'm ONLY eighteen." It was such a weird state of mind to be in, having to deal with the paradoxical reactions that such a birthday made her feel.

Oh well. She should probably enjoy it while it lasted; she had a feeling she wouldn't feel the same way when she turned, say, fifty.

Giggling to herself, Wendy sat up, rubbed her eyes, and yawned. She looked around her room, smiling as she did. It didn't look different. In fact, Wendy herself didn't feel different, which she found was a common theme on her birthday. She built it up in her head so much, but in terms of the emotions that the day inspired… it was just a normal day. This day, for all intents and purposes, was completely normal, and was just more of the same.

But Wendy knew that this wasn't the case on this particular birthday. This was a special birthday, a milestone birthday. She had come of age, she had crossed the threshold. It hadn't sunk in for her quite yet, but she knew it would. At some point during this amazing day, it would finally hit her that this was a special day, that she was going to live differently from how she did when she was a kid.

Right as Wendy thought that, a knock sounded on her door. A little unfortunate since she hadn't put her makeup on and wasn't anywhere close to being presentable. But considering that she knew who and what waited for her on the other side of the door…

"Come in!"

The door opened, and in stepped the only two Koopalings who still had yet to cross the threshold. Unlike how he usually appeared, Morton smiled and looked upon his sister with very potent and very visible gladness. And Larry looked pleased too. Not in his typical "I want to cause trouble for everything and everybody" way, but in a "I feel a very strong sense of familial pride" way. It was very nice to see them. The fact that Morton carried a fresh, steaming stack of Belgian waffles, with strawberries and whipped cream poured over them, accompanied by a cup of hot coffee, was icing on the cake. The birthday cake, if you will.

"Happy birthday to you," Wendy's two younger brothers sang. Wendy smiled, feeling a cozy fuzziness taking root in her heart as they came into the room and sat the tray down in front of her. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Wendy. Happy birthday to you."

Wendy cast both brothers a warm and grateful smile. "Thanks, guys. This was very sweet."

Larry smirked. "Well, it is a special occasion now. You are officially ancient after all." Larry laughed in a cheeky manner as Wendy playfully flipped him off.

"Anyway," Morton said, pulling both his siblings back into the present moment. "I hope you like my waffles, Wendy."

"Oh, you were the one who made them?"

"I was." Morton looked incredibly pleased with himself. "I wanted to do something special for my big sis."

Right as Wendy felt as though this scene couldn't get any sweeter, Larry chuckled and stepped forward. He began to blush as he scratched the back of his head. "And, uh, I helped too."

THAT made Wendy do a double take. "Wait, are you serious?" She turned toward her dark-skinned brother. "Morty, is he being serious?"

"Believe it or not, he is. He lent a hand to help me make the waffles."

Wendy's eyes were practically popping out of their skulls at this point. "But… but Larry, why would you do that? Your wish on Fortune's Comet made it so you can't taste food anymore."

"True, but just because I can't taste doesn't mean I can't follow a recipe." He stepped forward, his face turning ultra red. "And don't tell this to anyone but… I just wanted to show how much I love you." Larry looked her right in the eye. "You're my big sister and… you're turning eighteen. That's really cool."

Wendy's heart melted right then and there. "Larry." She sniffled as a smile grew on her face. "That's so sweet! You'd better believe I love you too."

Larry chuckled. "Well, of course you would. Most grandmas love their family."

Wendy gave him a look before she snorted and laughed. "You really want to play the ancient card, don't ya?"

"Oh believe me, Wendy; I have a whole list of jokes that I came up with. And I'm not just gonna stop at one or two, I'm gonna tell ALL of them." He smirked. "After all, you probably don't have much time left, am I right?"

Wendy gasped and Morton's eyes grew wide. "Wow Larry," Morton said. "That's mean spirited even for you."

Larry cringed. "Yeah, I see what you mean; that is a little far beneath the belt." He shook his head. "How about I try to make up for it by saying this: Wendy, you are the best big sister in the world and I want to make sure you have the best eighteenth birthday in the world." He gave her a hopeful look. "Does that help?"

Wendy beamed. "It does. Not entirely, but it does. I'd say about half of your debt to me is paid." Wendy giggled. "You can pay the other half by making sure my birthday party turns out to be effing spectacular."

"Consider it done." Larry grinned. "I will do everything in my power to make sure it is."

"We all will," said Morton. He let out a breath. "Now, we'll let you enjoy your breakfast. We need to join the others to come up with a game plan."

Wendy nodded, and with that, Morton and Larry left the room. Feeling an ultra-specific and special form of satisfaction, she began eating her waffles. And she just had to say for the record… these waffles were incredible. Like, REALLY incredible. She could taste every last ounce of love Morton and Larry felt towards her in every single bite of these waffles. They sent her over the moon, they made her feel like her fairy godmother had appeared and turned her rags into a gown. Combining these delectable confections with the coffee, which just so happened to be butter pecan flavored (di-VINE), created an absolutely out-of-this-world experience.

And as such, the specialness that Wendy had hoped and suspected she'd feel at some point during this day started to set in. She felt like the most special girl in the world. She knew her family would move Heaven and Earth to make sure that today was perfect. They were going to put their sweat and blood into preparing her party, and they would go it all for her sake. That was… that was the most amazing feeling in the world. She really did feel incredibly special.

And she JUST woke up!

Grinning, Wendy took her time to finish with her waffles. She quickly realized that four waffles slathered with whipped cream and strawberries wasn't nearly enough for her. She wanted TEN of them. No, she wanted twenty THOUSAND of them! She wanted to experience the richness and the fullness of this incredible breakfast for as long as possible. It would be like laying in the sun in order to get a tan; she wanted to bask in the radiance and soak up as much of the experience as possible,

But of course, all good things must come to an end. She eventually finished her waffles, not leaving a single crumb, drop of strawberry juice, or drop of whipped cream left on her plate. She licked her fingers and the sides of her mouth before finishing the coffee. Honestly, on a side note, she hadn't given the coffee enough credit; on top of being butter pecan flavored, it was freshly brewed and had the perfect amount of cream and sugar in it. This just goes to show how dedicated her family was to ensuring this day was amazing. They were going to cover all the bases and pay attention to each and every tiny little detail.

Speaking of paying attention to every detail, Wendy got out of bed, made her way over to her vanity table, and started the painstaking task of applying her makeup. The grace and carefulness she used to apply this job, which would be her first makeup job done as an adult, was unparalleled. She stayed in the lines of her lips with the lipstick perfectly, she used the right amount of foundation and applied the most gorgeous and sparkly eye shadow. Despite needing to work with precision, Wendy did the job happily. And when she finished…

She stared into the mirror. There she was, Wendy Orville Koopa. A full-grown adult, a striking young woman who had so much to offer the world. This day was the end of her childhood, sure, but it was also the beginning of a new, possibly far more exciting chapter in her life. Now was when she could take charge. Now was when she could truly find herself, could figure out exactly how she could leave her mark on the rest of the world.

She had to admit, it was kinda scary. There was promise packaged in with this day, but there was also so much danger. Things could go horribly wrong, incredibly right, or somewhere in between. Wendy imagined that she was going to accrue a long list of failures, a long list of embarrassing and humiliating failures. She failed as a kid, but now that she was officially an adult, wouldn't that mean that the world would look upon her failures in a harsher light? Wouldn't that mean that she had to watch her step extra carefully from this point on?

Wendy frowned as she thought about that question before the smile returned to her face. The answers to those questions were simple. Yes, that absolutely would be the case, but she didn't have to worry about that because of one simple fact. That being, the fact that she had a support system. She had an AMAZING support system: her family. Her father and brothers had taken all the necessary steps in order to help her flourish. They had done it before, and they were pretty much guaranteed to do it again. They loved her. They showed her this morning, they showed her yesterday by playing Mario Party 9 with her (Larry especially, seeing how he had a burning hatred for that game), and they showed her every single day of her life. Wendy didn't need to be scared because she had them. There was no room for worry in her heart considering her family lived there rent free.

Wendy let out a breath and looked her reflection in the eye. "It's your birthday, Wendy. And you know what they say: carpe diem." With that, she finally got up from the vanity table. She straightened out her bow and made extra sure her necklace was perfectly centered on her chest before going out the door. She walked down the hallway with a spring in her step, passing by some exhilarated servants along the way.

"Happy birthday, Princess Wendy!" said one.

"Happy birthday, my dear and beloved princess!" said another. This one, along with a lot more, actually took the time to bow before Wendy.

Wendy couldn't help but beam. This day was going to be PERFECT.